Schrader to dance at air base in Jordan

Paul LaPann

Managing Editor

plapann@newsandsentinel.com

Belpre native Tamara Schrader is looking forward to entertaining U.S. and Jordanian military personnel at Muwaffaq Salti Air Base in Jordan this month.

Schrader, a choreographer, dancer and performer in the New York City area, will be joined by a New York City disc jockey in providing a fun dance program for U.S. Air Force members and their Jordanian counterparts in the Middle East.

Schrader said she will be dancing and leading/teaching line dances at the air base in Azraq, Jordan, near the border with Syria and Iraq. She was hired by an entertainment company to provide a USO type show for the military members.

The reason for the show in Jordan is “to bring joy through dance to the military service personnel overseas,” Schrader said.

Schrader expects to spend most of her time on the air base, although she would like to do humanitarian work while in Jordan.

Schrader admits to being a little nervous about her visit because of the volatile Middle East.

In 2013, Schrader presented “Tinseltown Spectacular…From New York to Okinawa” for U.S. service men and women and their families at Kadena Air Base in Okinawa, Japan. She was part of a group that performed four shows and participated in a Christmas tree lighting ceremony on the military base.

Schrader expects to be participating in additional shows at military bases this year.

She is the daughter of Velma Schrader, owner and director of the Schrader Youth Ballet Co. in Parkersburg.

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Baltimore filmmaker Richard Anderson is working on a documentary “What About Auburn?” that he hopes to premiere next spring.

The film focuses on the challenges faced by Auburn, Ritchie County, which has seen its town and population shrink and its roads deteriorate, Anderson notes.

The new film project also “tells a larger story about what is happening to this country, both in terms of what has been lost, but also about the pockets of resistance and resilience that remain,” Anderson writes on the film’s trailer.

Anderson and his crew have done three weeks of filming and plan to spend Oct. 24-29 filming and talking to Ritchie County residents. “We have filmed 10 people, a church service (at Auburn Baptist Church), an ice cream social (in Auburn), and flown a camera drone over Main Street in Auburn. The story is gradually coming together,” he said.

A website and trailer are available at: https://whataboutauburn.com. Anderson is raising money by donations and has applied for funding from organizations that support these types of documentaries, he said.

Anderson has asked Parkersburg singer/songwriter Todd Burge to direct the music for the documentary. While in Parkersburg recently, Anderson recorded a song Burge wrote about the town of Cairo, Ritchie County, which might appear in the Auburn film.

In 2016, Anderson produced the documentary “Mike Morningstar: Here’s to the Workingman” about the singer-songwriter from Parkersburg and Gilmer County. The film premiered at the Smoot Theatre in Parkersburg, attracted a large audience at the West Virginia International Film Festival in Charleston and won honorable mention in the documentary feature category at the Workers Unite Film Festival in New York City.

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Jill (Goldstein) Seale, a 1979 graduate of Parkersburg High School, will be discussing the history of marbling at the Country Living Fair in Columbus on Sept. 14-16.

Seale, who has design studios in Washington, D.C., and Charlotte, will be a featured speaker on the Main Stage at 3:30 p.m. Saturday and 11 a.m. Sunday and sell fine art, wearables (silk robes, scarves, belts) and home decor (pillows and trays) made with her designs at a booth throughout the days. She will present demonstrations on marbling.

Seale describes the Country Living Fair, located at the Ohio Village, as the pages of Country Living Magazine coming to life. “It’s a huge variety of artisans, craftspeople, antiques and speakers,” she said. Seale, who lives in Charlotte, graduated from West Virginia University.

Ohio Village is located at Exit 111 of I-71 at the Ohio History Connection museum, across from the Ohio Expo Center and Ohio State Fairgrounds.